Last season, the Dallas Stars missed the Stanley Cup playoffs by six points; the season before, they missed them by just two points. In the 2011-12 season, they got a career-best performance from goaltender Kari Lehtonen (2.33 GAA, four shutouts and a .922 save percentage in 59 games).

Lehtonen, though, missed 12 games with a groin injury, and the inconsistent play of his backups during the season (10-13-1, 3.04 GAA) hurt the Stars' efforts.

Stars backup goaltender Richard Bachman allowed four goals playing in place of Kari Lehtonen on Sunday night. (AP Photo)

This season, the team was hoping that better health and the offseason additions of several veterans would get Dallas to the playoffs for the first since 2008; however, injuries and a key contractual issue have reared their heads in the first month.

Dallas’ full complement of forwards has never been dressed for the same game. Jamie Benn, an All-Star last season, missed the first five games this year while he was still an unsigned restricted free agent. He agreed to a five-year, $26.25 million contract on Jan. 24.

The 40-year-old Ray Whitney, who signed a two-year, $9 million contract last summer, is two weeks into his recovery from a broken foot; he is expected to be out four to six weeks. Derek Roy, acquired in a trade with the Buffalo Sabres last summer, missed five games with a groin injury.

Jaromir Jagr, the 41-year-old forward who signed a one-year, $4.5 million deal last summer to join the Stars, he has recorded only seven points in 14 games after a four-point night to open the season.

But Dallas' biggest issue remains the health of Lehtonen, who has shown himself to be a true difference-maker between the pipes.

The netminder, who signed a five-year, $29.5 million extension that will take effect next season, was off to a great start in 2013; he was 7-2-1 in 12 games played and posted a 2.12 GAA and .934 save percentage.

That plan went awry when Lehtonen injured his groin Friday, an injury the team is officially calling a lower-body injury. He was placed on injured reserve Sunday. He is ineligible to return until Feb. 22 and the team doesn’t expect him to miss more time than that.

“He is still day-to-day, lower body,” Gulutzan said Sunday in a prepared statement. “We looked at him today, and certainly he has had that injury before in Phoenix last year, but this one is not as severe.”

The fact is, any absence of Lehtonen from the Stars’ crease is going to hinder the team’s playoff chances. His backups are once again struggling; they're 1-5 with a 3.55 GAA. And their play in the third period on Sunday night against the Calgary Flames showed why Lehtonen is so vital to his team.

Dallas entered the frame with a 3-1 lead over the struggling Flames, before goaltender Richard Bachman allowed two goals 45 seconds apart to tie the game 2:24 into the period. Calgary took the lead with 9:30 left in regulation on a goal from Steve Begin.

Gulutzan thought Bachman, who made 22 saves, played well and that the defense in front left him exposed.

"I thought he [Bachman] made some big saves," Gulutzan said after the game. "All three goals were rebound goals, with no coverage."

The team also played the third period without defenseman Trevor Daley, who suffered an upper-body injury late in the second period and did not return.

The loss dropped the Stars to 8-7-1 and into the center of a giant pileup in the middle of the Western Conference standings—a pileup from which a healthy Lehtonen could help the Stars escape.